


There's a story behind every scar

by A_Stressed_Cupcake



Series: The Brotherhood of the Dark Kingdom [2]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Flashbacks, Gen, Help, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Injury, We get to see them suffer this time because I'm a horrible person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:41:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22838014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Stressed_Cupcake/pseuds/A_Stressed_Cupcake
Summary: Quirin's not sure how he ended up talking about scars and injuries to his wife, but in his defense, she's very curious.Tw: There IS injury in this one. This is not as fluffy as the last fic.
Relationships: Adira & Hector & Quirin (Disney: Tangled), The Brotherhood - Relationship
Series: The Brotherhood of the Dark Kingdom [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1653301
Comments: 19
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

"What's this?"

Quirin opened one eye. Just one. He was too tired to open both: "What is what?" he asked, but he knew exactly what she was referring to. 

She poked at a spot on the back of his head: "This. Is this a scar? It's like…" she brushed the hair away from the scar with her fingers, "It's white-ish and no hair's growing on it."

"Ah, yes…" he sighed, "It's a scar. I hit my head when I was thirteen." 

"Oh, ouch…" 

"It's okay. Nothing happened."

"But how did you get it?" his wife asked, sitting in front of him with a little spark of interest in her eyes. Before he could answer, she raised her hand: "I propose a trade. I tell you about the one on my shoulder and you tell me about the one on your head. Deal?"

He avoided mentioning that he was going to tell her anyway.

"Deal."

She laughed. Her laugh sounded like wooden wind chimes. 

Her name was Enya, a baker's daughter and heir to her father's talent. Her hair, a beautiful chestnut brown, wasn't in her usual bun, because it never was in the early morning; instead, it fell soft and kind of wavy on her shoulders.

"I don't think we should be talking this loudly." Quirin chuckled, pointing subtly at the crib in the corner.

"Oh, please." she laughed, "You know it would take an entire army's worth of cannons to wake him up."

"You're not wrong." he admitted. Their son was a heavy sleeper.

"Okay, so… you first."

Quirin didn't complain. "Well… there's a small problem."

"Mh?"

"I don't actually remember what happened."

"You don't?" Enya blinked.

"Not first-hand." he clarified, "All I know is what my siblings told me afterwards."

_ "En garde!" _

_ Quirin blocked the strike with little effort and he couldn't help the smug little smile that appeared on his face.  _

_ "Too slow." he smirked. Bad idea. _

_ He immediately received a smack on the arm for his troubles. That would definitely leave a bruise. _

_ "Too slow." Hector mocked, clearly miffed. _

_ Adira snorted, but didn't twist the knife too much, which was certainly appreciated. "Wow, Hector. That was brutal." _

_ "Good!" the youngest scoffed. _

_ "I think I'm ready to call it a day." Quirin groaned, twisting his wrist to check exactly where the damage was. _

_ "What? Did I damage your pride too much?" Hector teased. _

_ "No, you damaged my bones, probably. Which I need. To hold a sword. That's how swords work." _

_ Adira lost all previous restraint and started to laugh out loud. She was in a good mood that day. Her tenth birthday was coming up and her mother had promised a surprise. _

_ "It's not even five yet!" Hector protested. _

_ "And yet here we are. Sweating like pigs." Adira pointed out, "I'm with Quirin on this one." _

_ "What a surprise." _

_ "Oh, quiet, you." she smiled. _

_ "Come on, Hector. Adira's mother will kill me if we disappear again." Quirin sighed. _

_ "Fine. Hey, what's that?"  _

_ Hector perked up, pointing at something behind his shoulder. He turned to look, like an idiot. And then he was falling. _

_ Hector had pushed him to the ground and now he was rolling down the mound like a little ball of child.  _

_ The last thing he heard was his friends laughing. The last thing he saw was the summer sky as his head crashed into a rock at the bottom of the little hill they'd been playing on. _

_ He didn't hear when they gradually stopped laughing. _

_ "Quirin?" Adira called from a little ways away, but he didn't hear that either. _

_ He didn't feel the shift of air when Hector approached him, or his hand shaking him to try to rouse him. _

_ He didn't hear him gasping, either. _

_ "Adira!!!" the younger child called, turning to her with a look of pure panic. Not that he needed to. The girl was already on her way over to them. _

_ "He's bleeding!" she exclaimed. _

_ "I could've told you that!" he yelled, but his voice was cracking a little. His eyes, lime green and bright, shifted all around them as if looking for a solution or, even better, a way to reverse time.  _

_ A little rivulet of red streamed down the side of the rock, staining his hands and the back of Quirin's shirt and leaving an ever-growing stain in the grass. _

_ "What do we do?" he asked, trying to contain his panic. _

_ "Okay, okay, okay." Adira put a hand to her forehead to focus: "Let's not panic. That's what mother told me." _

_ "Yeah, that's all well and good, but I asked what we  _ should _ do, not what we  _ shouldn't _!" _

_ "Give me a second!!" she hissed. Her dark and narrow eyes ran to the road beside them. "Let's take him to the physician. Right now." _

_ "Should we really move him? One time I hit my head and he said I shouldn't move." Hector lamented. _

_ "Yeah, but you weren't bleeding this much. We have to be fast here." _

_ "Okay…" the child bit his lip, "I'm gonna carry him." _

_ Adira raised her brow at him from her 5'2" of height: "You?" _

_ "Adira, I swear…" he mumbled, already locking his friend's arms around his shoulders to carry him, "If you call me short right  _ now _ , you have no heart." _

_ "Fine, fine." she conceded: "I'm just saying." _

_ "Oh, I know!!" Hector exclaimed, unprompted. _

_ "What?" _

_ "You go on and tell the physician we're coming. That way he already has everything ready." _

_ The girl seemed impressed. "That's a good idea." she admitted, already taking a step back and ready to run off on her abnormally long legs. _

_ Hector watched her sprint across the field with wings at her feet. _

_ "It's gonna be okay." he said. Whether he was talking to himself or his unconscious friend, he didn't know. _

_ When Quirin opened his eyes a few hours later, they were sitting beside him in what he recognised as his room. _

_ "Since when do you guys sleep here?" he asked, dazedly. _

_ Then he fell unconscious again. _

Enya had a beautiful laugh. She'd been worried for most of the story, but a funny ending was a funny ending and she knew her husband had recovered, which certainly took some weight off the story.

"They never let me forget that one." Quirin mumbled.

"I won't let you forget it either." his wife chuckled, "Your sense of humour is subconscious, it seems."

"Yeah, maybe."

"Alright." Enya stretched her arms, "A deal's a deal. So…"

"Your shoulder."

"Yes. Well, you know how oil splashes everywhere when it starts to heat up?" she started.

"Yes?"

"Well, honey, 6-year-old Enya didn't."

Quirin sucked in a breath between his teeth.

"I got startled when a drop of oil burned my hand and I dropped the pan and it just…" she made a splashing motion with her hands, "It went everywhere. Dad told me I was lucky it only got my shoulder."

He nodded, but there was a far-off look in his eyes. She tilted her head slightly, acting like she didn't know what that look was about. Which she did.

"Honey?"

"Mh?"

"Is there anything you'd like to share with the class?" she giggled. Her face was shining with a bright and proud grin.

He gave her a half smile in response: "It's nothing. Just… uh… you know, something similar happened when I was 17."

"Really?" she blinked, "Did you burn yourself?"

"Oh no no, not me." he clarified. 

She leaned forward a little: "Let me guess."

"Mh?"

"One of your siblings?" 

"How did you know that?"

She traced the line of his jaw with her fingers. 

"Because you only get that look when you're thinking about them."

He sat quietly for a moment. 

"I'm that transparent, aren't I?"

"Only to me, dear." she smiled, almost apologetically, "You haven't lived this long with anyone except me and them."

"That is true." he admitted.

They were silent for maybe a minute before she spoke again.

"Which one?"

"My sister." he answered almost instinctively. 

_ They'd been training for hours and the sun was starting to go down. He put his sword down with a sigh: "I think that's enough for one day. We'd better go back before the sun sets." _

_ It was going to get cold soon. _

_ "Five more minutes." Hector compromised, landing another swing on the training dummy. _

_ "Well, okay, but if it gets dark that's on you." he shrugged, placing the sword back into its case. _

_ Adira groaned. _

_ It seemed to amuse the youngest in the group: "Ah yes, I forgot. It's your turn to cook today." _

_ It was a system they'd set up only recently. Quirin, seventeen years of age, but consistently described as a  _ responsible young man _ by his parents, had been living alone for a few months. Hence, their almost daily visits to his little house. It had been Adira's mother who had suggested the younger kids should start to learn to be more independent too, and set up a schedule that would benefit all three of them, rotating shifts for cooking and cleaning around the house. Quirin had initially been opposed to having them do any work around  _ his _ house (it felt impolite), but the other two had agreed to it wholeheartedly, secure in the knowledge that a knight should be able to take care of themselves. _

_ The system, though, was very new. It had been initiated only on the previous night and that day was the first time Adira would be on cooking duty. They'd asked her if she could cook. She'd told them yes. In reality, neither of them had ever witnessed her doing anything of the sort yet, but then again, at 14 it wasn't that surprising, particularly for someone who had shown no previous interest in it. _

_ "I should have stopped earlier." she mumbled, sitting down to get what rest she could before they went home. _

_ "There's no hurry." Quirin said, "You can go home and rest a bit before your shift." _

_ "No, it's okay." she sighed, "I'll just make some soup. I've made it before." _

_ "Okay…" _

_ He turned to Hector, still slashing at the dummy: "Five minutes are up, Hector." _

_ "No they're not. That was barely a minute." he protested. _

_ "You lost track of time." he lied, "Let's go home." _

_ The boy groaned, but complied after one last brutal slash that severed the dummy's left arm. _

_ "No mercy, huh?" Adira snickered. _

_ "I don't wanna hear that from the person who decapitated one just yesterday." Hector scoffed. _

_ "Fair enough." she shrugged, and then they were on their way home. _

_ The little house was built on the edge of town, adjacent to the inner city walls. It really only had a living room, a bathroom and a bedroom, plus a small fireplace to cook, but it was definitely enough for a young man to live comfortably. It was also not particularly tough to clean. _

_ Quirin grabbed the broom the moment they got home, determined to get his shift done as soon as he possibly could and go to sleep. After a training session, even his bruises had bruises.  _

_ He started from the bedroom, as always, while Hector sank into a chair with a sigh. He had the day off. Neither of them had a good view on their friend as she poured the water (maybe a bit too much) into the pot that hung above the fire. Or what would have been a fire, anyway, if anyone had bothered to light it. And light it she did, using the dried leaves Quirin had gathered the previous month as kindling.  _

_ The fire popped cheerfully, apparently sending a very tired Hector right to Dreamland. He must have been exhausted after the training. _

_ "He's gonna run himself into the ground." Adira commented. _

_ Quirin nodded, even though they couldn't see each other. "You know how important this is to him." he sighed. _

_ "Well, that's how it goes."  _

_ "Yeah…" _

_ He decided to check on his friend. The whole cooking thing was stressing him out more than he would care to admit, but he'd have to be subtle about it or she would take it personally. He'd finished the bedroom, so he decided to move on to the living room and check on Adira while he was there. Perfect plan. _

_ When he walked in, she was testing the temperature of the water by holding her hand above the pan. The water began to boil. _

_ "You heard what the King said today, right?" she asked him, already knowing the answer. _

_ He held the broom just a little tighter: "Yeah." _

_ "How do you suppose he got out?" _

_ "I don't know." he admitted, "But I'm sure they'll catch him eventually." _

_ "That's why you insisted on going home early, isn't it?" she guessed. _

_ He just nodded.  _

_ She looked back at the heating water: "Sir Malcolm is dangerous." _

_ "I know." _

_ "His eyes have something really… strange to them." she murmured, "They're just… cold. There's nothing in there, except when he threatens the guards." _

_ Her hand gave a slight tremble. "I hope they lock him up again." she said. _

_ "Me too." he sighed, "The knights are searching all over for him." _

_ He glanced at the pot: "Oh, Adira, that's too much water. It's gonna spill everywhere once you put in the rest of the ingredients." he warned. _

_ She gave the pot a very long look. _

_ "I think you're right." she finally admitted. _

_ "You should probably go outside and dump some." he suggested. _

_ She looked like she was about to follow his advice, but her gaze drifted to the sleeping Hector and her hand fell from the pot. _

_ "He looks upset." she observed. _

_ He stopped sweeping for a moment: "How upset?" _

_ He knew Hector had nightmares occasionally. Usually, he didn't remember them that well. He tended to wake up pretty quickly within maybe a minute of the nightmare starting. _

_ Adira raised her brow with an expression that was somewhere between confusion and concern: "Very." _

_ "Okay, uh…" he gave the now overflowing pot a quick glance and propped the broom up against the wall, "You take care of that water and I'll take care of Hector. Okay?" _

_ "Got it."  _

_ He would come to regret that decision. _

_ Of course, he couldn't have known, but Hector's nightmares didn't just make his face move. He'd never witnessed it before; neither of them had. They couldn't possibly have known that he kicked the blankets away, that he sometimes ended up on the floor with no recollection of falling on it. _

_ He certainly hadn't expected Hector to send a strong kick into the pot that Adira had just taken off the fire. _

_ There was a clunk of leather against metal, and a splash, and then there was a scream. _

Enya hadn't said a word throughout the whole story. She'd stared him with wide eyes and a quiet sympathy for someone she'd never met.

"Poor girl…" she whispered, "How bad was it?"

Quirin took a deep breath. "Second to third degree. From here…" he brushed his fingers against her left cheek, "...to here." he concluded, stopping at her elbow. 

"I sent Hector to get the medic." he sighed, "And it wasn't… technically bad. It was, just...not life-threatening. Which was good news, of course, but she didn't… take it very well."

Enya was picking at her sleeve. "Was she angry?" she asked, quietly, like she was afraid of being heard. 

She was a thoughtful person. Empathetic. She got maybe a little too involved with stories sometimes. It was beautiful.

He sighed. 

"She was. Initially. When you're in that much pain you're angry on principle."

Enya nodded in understanding. 

"She yelled at Hector for… not a long time, but if felt like it." he murmured, "Then she changed her mind."

_"What do you mean,_ he left _?"_

_ Quirin's blood froze. He heard the muffled voice of Adira's mother through the door. _

_ "He walked out a while ago. Don't worry about him, dear. I'm sure he just needs some time to think." _

_ He didn't stay to hear Adira's response.  _

_ The night air was chilly in the Dark Kingdom during that time of the year, but it wasn't the wind that made him shiver, so much as the distant howl from within the forest.  _

_ He looked all around, searching for any clue as to where Hector might have gone. He took a few steps down the road, hesitantly. Maybe the well? Or the hill? Or maybe the old city. Maybe he'd just gone out back for some air. A vain hope, but hope all the same. _

_ He wasn't in the backyard. _

_ He wasn't at the well, either. Which meant he'd gone further. Quirin started to regret not wearing something heavier, not having any weapons on him, not bringing anything but a lantern and not keeping an eye on the kid's fickle mood in the first place. What news. He began to seriously consider the advantages of carrying a dagger on him at all times. _

_ The lantern cast a warm orange glow on the tense muscles in his neck as he ran shivering across town and into the woods. The most likely place for Hector to be at that point was at the lake, he decided. A more aggressive chill ran up his spine like an icy-legged spider. _

_ He went in all the same. _

_ If the forest was dark during the day, it was an inky void at night. The vegetation in the greenwood was simply too thick for the pale moonlight to filter in, so he only had the lantern. Which would immediately give away his position to anyone or anything looking for something to kill. He'd been warned all his life not to go into that part of the forest on the sunniest of days, and never, for any reason, to go at night. Hector had apparently missed the memo. _

_ The darkness scratched at the wall of his sanity. He clenched his jaw. _

_ "Hector!!" he called, caution be damned. He just wanted to  _ leave _. No answer. _

_ "Hector, where are you?? You'd better be around here…" he panted, climbing over an abnormally tall root, "...because I'm not going to look for you in the next kingdom!!" _

_ He joked, but he didn't laugh. _

_ Someone did, though. _

_ His head snapped back when a dark chuckle echoed in the forest. Not Hector's voice. Not any kid's voice, but a grown man's. _

_ "See? I knew you had backup." the voice said, smooth and clearly amused. _

_ It came from behind him. _

_ As he snapped back in alarm, his back arched back even further to look at the man in front of him. He was tall, even taller than Quirin, and definitely bigger. And armed. _

_ The boy's eyes immediately fell on the sword in his hands. He recognised the sword. _

_ "Where's Hector?" he asked, immediately regretting coming unarmed. He spotted a large branch in the corner of his eye. It would only work for so long, but it was the best he had if things went south. The sword's tip was coated in red. _

_ The man tilted his head. "Who, him?" he asked, pointing at a spot on Quirin's left. He let himself look where he was pointing and, immediately, a gasp ripped from his throat.  _

_ There was blood on Hector's face. That was the first thing he noticed. The other was how his head leaned against his shoulder and his eyes were almost completely closed. He was either unconscious, terribly dazed, or something he didn't even want to think about. _

_ He turned back to the man, determined to use his talent for negotiation and trying his best to keep the rising panic out of his voice: "Yes, him. That's my brother." _

_ "Oh?" the man quirked his brow in interest.  _

_ "Please, sir, he's only thirteen. He won't say anything about you if I tell him not to. And I won't say anything. I know better." he compromised. _

_ The man (Sir Malcolm, he reminded himself) leaned against the tree that held Hector with its roots in that almost motherly fashion that nature sometimes displays. Malcolm stared him up and down. _

_ Then he finally spoke his verdict. _

_ "Nice try, kid." _

_ Before he could have any hope of blocking the strike, his back slammed against the uneven bark of a pine tree. _

_ "Maybe it would have worked a little better if your little 'brother' hadn't told me you were knights in training." _

Dammit, Hector.

_ "We're not!" he denied, again. He knew the cat was out. Maybe if he insisted enough he could put it right back inside the bag with the rest of his disasters. _

_ Malcolm growled: "As if the royals weren't bad enough, now they send  _ children _ to do their business." _

_ "That's not what this is!" _

_ "Then what is it, huh? You're telling me that it's a coincidence that on the first night I escape, two knights in training show up to my hiding place?" _

_ "Yes!!" Quirin insisted, "He had an argument with a friend, he snuck out, I went to look for him. That's all there is to it, you have my word!" _

_ He froze when the side of the man's- no, Hector's sword, pressed against his neck. _

_ "I'm not going to risk that." Malcolm growled like an angry dog, but there was something more akin to a sick glee in his eyes. _

_ The blade dug a little deeper. The skin was so stretched around it that any more pressure would certainly break it. _

_ He couldn't move back any further. He was trapped. The lantern had fallen when Malcolm had grabbed him and he hadn't even noticed. _

_ "Better hope no one comes to look for you." the man smiled. _

_ Then the blade sliced through his skin. But no deeper. _

_ Malcolm went down with a heavy thud. _

_ Quirin fell more gracefully against the base of the tree. Without the support of Malcolm's forceful grip, he wasn't prepared to stand.  _

_ He looked up at Hector. His fluorescent eyes were the only thing he could see clearly through the waterfall of blood that sprang from the bridge of his nose. _

_ The young boy breathed heavily. The branch he was holding fell abandoned in the grass next to the rogue knight's unconscious figure. _

_ "I wanna go home." was all he said, before dropping like a sack of potatoes into his brother's arms. _

"What happened next?"

Enya's eyes were wide with curiosity. She had leaned towards him more and more as the story progressed, and she was so close that she could have kissed his nose if she leaned forward just a few more inches. She was capable of doing that, just because.

He fiddled with the rim of his glove.

"I brought Hector back and reported Malcolm to the first knight I came across. He was gone when they got there."

Enya gasped: "Did they ever catch him?"

"Not until a few years later." her husband sighed, "But… that's a story for another day."

The woman made a squawk of protest as he stood from his chair: "You can't leave me hanging like that!"

He didn't answer. Her expression softened almost immediately.

"But if you're not comfortable talking about it right now… I suppose an exception could be made…" she murmured, leaning against his back and looping her arms around his chest.

He put his hand over hers.

"Thank you." he said.

They didn't speak of Malcolm again that day.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Cover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I painted this yesterday in a sleep deprived frenzy and I felt like I should share it.

Hector's eyes are creepy. But also very very pretty. Don't @ me.

Warning: lots of blood in this one, but if you read the fic you knew that part :,)

<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-OB5_6mOOA410bsFqLn96M_ADeQP60HA/view?usp=drivesdk>

The link should work, but please warn me if it doesn't :,)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry.  
> To be fair I wrote half of this between midnight and 1AM and my brain is probably not all there but still.  
> LOOK I ANGST EVERY FANDOM I'M IN  
> But hey, baby Varian is kinda in this one so law states you have to forgive me. It's the law.  
> Brotherhood squad where u at?  
> I'm going to bed.
> 
> -Cass
> 
> Edit: a few clarifications I feel I should make because it's bugging me.
> 
> -The red part of adult Adira's face is NOT the burn. However the paint IS covering the scar.  
> -That slash across Hector's nose is indeed the scar he has as an adult  
> -Varian is still like six months old here  
> -Enya didn't see the scar before because it wasn't in an obvious place and this man is a tall dude  
> -One based on a true story (I will give no context)


End file.
